


change me at all costs

by cinderlily



Series: we were just kids [1]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M, baseball AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-13 22:41:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11194941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinderlily/pseuds/cinderlily
Summary: Sid very rarely saw Mario mad, but he was now. Why? Because of a tall gangly catcher that spoke no English.





	change me at all costs

**Author's Note:**

> This is mostly freetodream5 's fault because she sent me this photo. 
> 
> http://larrybrownsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/sidney-crosby-pitch.jpg
> 
> Then my brain went "HEY SHINY, SHINY, SHINY."

Mario was pissed, which in and of itself would leave Sidney pretty uncomfortable. His manager had a presence, that was sure, but he never let Sidney see it. He’d treated Sidney as one of his since the day he signed the minor league contract. He never saw him yell, never in anger. But he was right in the Skipper’s face. 

“Are you KIDDING me?” Mario called out. “They don’t even know the same language. Are you taking Army out and putting in this kid? Army and Sid have a rapport. They have a ROUTINE, how are they going to communicate?” 

Sid shifted behind him and tried his best to look actually 19 and not 9. The ‘kid’ that Mario was referring to was standing off to the corner with Sergei, one of the hitting coaches. He was tall, like freakishly so for a catcher. But, to be fair, people called him small for a pitcher. He was also looking about how Sid felt. 

Sid hazarded a half wave and a smile. The kid looked at him and didn’t half anything, his grin spread across his face. He started to rapid fire talk to Sergei and it was one of those things where Sid wished he was a polyglot. He was barely functioning on one and a half languages. 

Sergei rolled his eyes and crooked a finger at Sid, who was able to walk over to the two without Mario noticed. He could probably scream in Mario’s ear with no notice. 

He put his hand out and the other kid took it and shook it. 

“I’m Sid.” 

The response was kind of rapid fire and a little overwhelming. Sid looked at Sergei. Sergei covered his face to badly hide a laugh, before putting a hand on the kid’s shoulder to calm him down. 

“He know’s who you are,” Sergei said, accent a little heavier than usual. “This is Evgeni Malkin. He saw you at the World Baseball Classic.” 

Sid blushed. “How? We were knocked out like second round.” 

Canada had had a bad start, given the bracket they were put in was filled with the heavy hitters. They had made a run for it though. Just not quite enough. Russia had sent a team but he had been too focused and they hadn’t played each other. He felt bad that he hadn’t looked at the team. 

Sergei and Evgeni talked for a second and Sergei laughed again. “He said he thought he was coming here so he might want to check out his teammate. Only one player though as he never watched the American team. He thinks your pitching is good though. Very good.” 

“Thanks Evg… Yev…” Sid frowned. “Evginnny?” 

This time it was Evgeni who laughed and shook his head. He pointed at himself with his free hand and said, “Geno. Geeeno.” 

“Thanks, Geno.” 

Which was about the moment he realized they still had their hands clutched in a handshake. He pulled back gently and tried his best not to wipe his own sweat on his gear, not that they hadn’t seen sweat before. Geno wiped his on his jersey though, so Sid gave in. 

Sergei looked over at the two, still standing in each other’s faces by the dug out. He said something to Geno who looked at him wide eyed but then shrugged. Sergei then looked at Sid and smiled. 

“Do you think you want to do some warm up?” 

He wasn’t actually pitching that day or the next. He had almost a full rotation before it got back to him, but he was always okay to throw. He nodded his head and pulled his hat out of his back pocket. 

Sergei surreptitiously walked over to lean over the dugout to grab gear, leaving the two of them just staring at each other. Geno was still smiling wide and it was catching, Sid’s smile spreading across his face. He felt tempted to say something but he’d never been given a reason to study Russian. 

“Nice, right?” he said, over exaggeratedly looking around at the huge stadium and then giving him a thumbs up. 

Geno looked around, a little confused but gave a thumbs up back. “Nice.” 

Sid bit his lip and fidgeted, so thankful for Sergei running back towards them he could cry. He put his glove on and grabbed the ball that Sergei handed him. He walked up to the mound and started the small rituals he had to go through. 

He wiped the mound completely clean with his foot. He brushed his toes with his gloves and then touched the tip of his hat. Finally, he grabbed the bag of chalk and bounced it three times. 

Geno seemed to understand this was necessary and he didn’t even look annoyed, which was nice. Army had mocked him from day one about him extending games by a full inning with his ritual. 

He shook his hand and nodded his head at Geno. First he and Geno just tossed it back and forth, no real feel for types of throws. Geno was good at picking out where he was throwing though. It gave Sid confidence enough to nod again, asking for a signal. Geno signaled for a curve, not his strongest pitch but one he could work on. He tilted his head but took his stance and threw. 

It was not the BEST curve he’d done, but Geno caught it and tossed the ball back, saying something he could only assume to be “again” in Russian. Not like he could have understood him even if he was speaking English, he’d not taken his mask off. 

He straightened up and waited for a moment to catch his breath and feel what his body was telling him before he threw. This time it curved perfectly, coming in just under what was the usual strike zone. Geno caught it and it was clean. He felt a surge of weird pride. 

There was clapping, though, which was weird. He’d forgotten other people were on the field. 

He looked over and saw Sergei standing with the Skip and Mario, all three of them clapping. He smiled and pulled his hat down a little, he hated the nickname Sid the Kid, but the blushing reflex probably didn’t help. 

“Thanks?” he called back. 

They signaled for the two of them to come over and through Sergei’s translations, they agreed they would continue to throw for a bit and would try again in two days. Mario still looked red and frustrated, but he winked as Sid as he ran back out to the mound. 

Geno gave him a smile and a thumbs up and Sid returned it. He didn’t know why, but he had a feeling this was the start of something big. 

For that moment though, he took his stance and waited for his signal.


End file.
